Portable floor construction



S. J. PLENDL PORTABLE FLOOR CONSTRUCTION Filed March 10, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Fig./

- Stephen Joseph P/end/ IN VEN TOR.

United States Patent This invention relates in general to new and useful improvements in portable building construction, and more specifically to a portable floor construction.

While there have been devised numerous types of portable floors wherein the portable floors are formed as entire units, there cannot be found on the market a portable floor wherein the portable floor is formed in sections and which may be laid temporarily in a building to present a high quality floor which has the actual appearance of a conventional type of oak, maple or other type of hardwood flooring which is laid in strips.

It is therefore the primary object of this invention to providea portable floor construction'which is'iri fthe form I of a plurality of floor sections, each of the floor sections ,being .formed of a plurality of hardwood floorin strips suitably secured'together to form the sections, e'sections being interlocked so that when theportable floor is laid, it has the appearance of a hardwood floor laid in a conventional manner.

Another object of this invention is to provide an improved portable fioor construction wherein the individual floor sections are offset with respect to longitudinally adjacent floor sections so that an end of a floor section is I in abutting and interlocked engagement with a pair oi floor sections whereby shifting of individual floor sections with respect to each other is prevented therefore eliminating cracks between floor sections.

for laying flooring strips to' form a permanent floor on concrete sub-floors or bases. Such an arrangement is clearly disclosed in Patent No. 2,116,737 issued to Leon F. Urbain on May 10, 1938. However, while the particular floor system disclosed in this patent will form a tight interlock between the flooring strips without their being nailed down, it has not been adapted to portable flooring.

Therefore, it is a further object of this invention to provide a portable floor construction which includes a plurality of floor sections, the individual floor sections being in the form of flooring strips connected together by transverse connecting strips carrying clips at spaced intervals, the clips being disposed between the tongue and groove connections of the flooring strips whereby the flooring strips of a floor section are rigidly connected into a single unit by the transverse connecting strips.

A further object of this invention is to provide an improved portable floor section which is formed of a plurality of flooring strips connected together by transverse connecting strips, the undersides of the flooring strips being provided with a suitable vapor barrier and having secured thereto intermediate the connecting strips insulating material which projects below the connecting strips and forms additionally a cushion for the flooring section.

These together with other objects and advantages which will become subsequently apparent reside in the details of construction and operation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, reference beind had to the accom- At the present time, there has been devised a system i" 2 panying drawings forming a part hereof, wherein like numerals refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

Figure 1 is a sectional view through walls of a building and showing the floor conforming to the spirit of the present invention, the relationship of flooring sections being clearly illustrated;

Figure 2 is a bottom plan viewof one flooring section and shows the general details of the construction thereof, the view being on a large scale;

, Figure 3 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view taken substantially on the plane indicated by the section line 3-3 of Figure 1 and shows the details of construction of flooring sections and the relationship between abutting ends thereof;

Figure 4 is an enlarged fragmentary vertical sectional view taken substantially upon the plane indicated by the section line 4--4 of Figure 1 and shows the manner in which flooring strips of a flooring section are connected together through means of the transverse connecting strips and the clips carried thereby, also being illustrated is the relationship between transversely adjacent flooring sections; and

Figure 5 is an enlarged fragmentary exploded perspecitive view showing the components of a flooring section. 25 v that there'is illustrated a conventionaltype of building Referring now'to the drawings in detail, it will be seen which is referred to in general by the reference numeral 10. Thebuilding 10; may either be a permanent structure .in which it is desired to place a temporary how, or the entire building 10.may be a temporary structure. The 'building 10' includes a'portable floor, which is referred to in general by the reference numeral 12, the portable floor 12 being the subject of this invention. The portable .floor 12, includesfa plurality of standard sections, which fare'refe'rred to in general by the reference numeral .14.

The standard sections 14 are disposed in the central portion of the floor 12 and are interlocked with end sections which arefreferred to in general by the reference numeral 16. The end sections 16 differ from the standard sections 14 only .in that one end thereof is square cut for abutment with the walls of the building. 10. The portable floor 12 also includes a number of half standard sections 18 and half end sections 20 in order that a staggered relationship between these sections 14 and 16 may be provided.

By providing the half sections 18 and 20, the sections 14 and 16 may be so offset with respect to each other that the mating line between a pair of transversely adjacent sections will be aligned with the center of the next longitudinally adjacent section. By providing such an interlock, the normal gap which will occur between transversely spaced sections is eliminated, and the floor 12 will have the appearance of a conventionally laid floor.

Inasmuch as the various sections are substantially identical, the general details of the construction of the sections will be recited without specific application to any one of the sections. Each of the sections of the floor 12 is formed of a plurality of longitudinally extending flooring strips 22. The flooring strips 22 are conventional hardwood type flooring strips and are connected together by longitudinally extending tongue and groove connections 24. The individual flooring strips 22 are retained in connected relation by a plurality of longitudinally spaced, transversely extending connecting strips 26. The connecting strips are channel-shaped in cross-section, as is best illustrated in Figure 3, and have slidably carried thereby a plurality of connecting clips 28, which are best illustrated in Figure 4. The connecting strips 26 and the clips 28 are those disclosed in Patent No. 2,116,737 referred to above, and no further description is believed to be necessary. The ends of the connecting strips 26 are secured to the edgernost ones of the flooring strips 22 by suitable fasteners 30 which are best illustrated in Figure 4.

In order to provide a floor which is cushioned, sound and heat insulated, there .is secured to the .undersides of the :fiooring strips 22 between the adjacent connecting strips 26 blocks or strips of insulating material 32. The insulating material 32 is secured to the underside of .the flooring strips 22 by suitable adhesive 34 which is preferably in the form of an asphaltic compound so as to also present avapor barrier. It is to .benoted that the insulating material .32 extends down below .the connecting strips 26 so as to rest upon the subfiooring or base .and thereby form asuitable cushion .for the floor12.

.Referring .now .to Figure .2 in particular, it be seen i that there is illustrated the underside of one of .thehalf sections 18. The flooring strips 22 of the half section 18 to form the flooring sections .and .at the same time, provide desired tongue and groove connections at opposite ends thereof.

It .is to benotedirorn Figure .1 that the flooring sections 16 and '20, having square cut ends, are formed .ofjfiooring strips which .are different lengths. 'The sections 16 and may either .be specially formed, ormay'bekin thelforms :of the sections vl4 and18, respectively, and then cut to length.

Inasmuch as the flooring 12 fisfintended to be portable, .there is .no need .to secure it permanently .to its particular subflooring or base. However, it is found desirable to secure the flooring 12 to a 'baseas apermanent installa- .ti'on, .a suitable adhesive or mastic may be utilized to secure insulating material '32 to sufih base.

from the foregoing description of the .flooiing .I2,Irit will be readily apparent that a relatively small number of difierent flooring sections need be retained on hand in orderto buildfloorings o'fanyconfiguration. Further, due to the size and shapes of-the flooringsectionnit will be readily apparent that a portable 'floormay "be easily stored, as well .as easily ilaidand removed. Ihus,.the ,porta'ble 7flooring12 will hei'found to be .very converiient 'ininstallat'ions wherefitis desired .toremove {the .iio'ofing ftor different reasons. example, ,an arena which is often used as a dance floor, but is also used for the purpose of ice skating and the like.

The foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the invention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the appended claim.

What is claimed as new is as follows:

A portable floor construction comprising a plurality of flooring sections disposed in interlocked relation, longi tudinally adjacent sections .being .ofiset relative to each other whereby an end of one section is interlocked with portions of ends of two longitudinally adjacent sections, each of said sections being formed of a plurality of flooring strips, saidflooring strips :having longitudinally stag- ,gered ends presenting tongue and groove ends on .said

sections, individual ones of .said flooring strips of adjacent ones of said sections being longitudinally alined, connecting strips extending .transversely of said flooring strips and retaining said strips in said sections, heat and .so md insulating material on undersides of said sections, said insulating material .forming supporting surfaces for said sections, said insulating material of each flooring section being .formed in sections separated by said connecting strips.

References Cited in 'thezfile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 761,375 Hanson May 31, 1904 841,490 {Du Montier Jan. 15, .1907 1,045,219 'Trarnill Nov. .26, 1912 1,351,546 'Warmoth .Aug..3.1, 1920 1,573,724 Lowe .Feb. 116, 1926 11,828,193 :Levin Oct. .20, 19.3.1 71,9401377 IStorm Dec. 19, 1933 2,085,215 Gonzalez June v29, 19.37 2,116,737 Urbain May 10,1938 2,129,976 Urbain .et al.. Sept. 13, 11938 FOREIGN PATENTS 116,605 Austria, .i .Mar. 10, 1930 99.8;91'3 .France Sept. ,26, 195.1 311%] Norway May 18, .1953

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